The contract was originally posted byThe Birmingham News — you can read it in full here — and the questionable clause reads, “For so long as Dr. Boyd is president and a single person, she shall not be allowed to cohabitate in the president’s residence with any person with whom she has a romantic relation.”

This clause in our university’s contract has nothing to do with Dr. Boyd and everything to do with the increasing scrutiny that university presidents face as the top image-makers of their respective universities, and as some would say, the “living brand” of the schools that employ them.

Boyd has maintained that she has no concerns about the clause, telling ABC, “I can read; I read my contract thoroughly. I knew what I was signing, and I have no issue with it at all.”

University officials are also emphasising that ASU in no way forced Boyd to agree to these restrictions. “If she wanted to change the contract, she could have,” Elton Dean, chairman of the ASU Board of Trustees, told ABC.